In the Dark
by Bad Wolf and Timelords
Summary: Ray O'Sullivan has been with the Volturi for three years, joining just after the famous confrontation with the Cullen's, but things start to change after something her master wants slips away from him. Amidst the usual day of being a Volturi guard, something is about to be discovered after a long rule of darkness and deception. This time, Aro won't be so forgiving. INCOMPLETE, OC
1. Making the Night Fly

_**AUTHOR"S NOTE:**_

_Please read the first entry in Forever: Book of Dreams. It is the prologue to this story and will help make a lot more sense in the future._

* * *

Chapter 1: Making the night fly

"She was ours, even if the transformation process failed! The law claims her!" I heard a voice hiss. Uhoh. Caius was mad; I would have to remember to steer clear of him later. I was tempted to see what he was fuming over, but I decided not to push my luck, Aro would obviously tell me later, considering how much he trusted me. Besides, I had heard the whole "the claw claims him/her" thing too many times to count. It was so annoying; then again, Caius was the kind of person to have the law followed word for word. I shook my head, laughing internally.

I walked out the door to the garden. Thank God it was cloudy, or else I would look like I rolled around in glue and diamonds. I would look that sparkly. Plus I didn't feel like hearing the humans' suspicious thoughts today. Of course, I still heard the latest theories. Some believed the sparkles came from sun catchers, hanging crystals, even disco balls. Whatever. Even if the humans did discover the true source, they wouldn't live long enough to spread the word. Although all of us knew they would never be able to figure out what the curious sparkles were, thank god for tall buildings and walls. The "veranda" looked out over the countryside; so no one would ever get close enough to the garden, considering the edge of the veranda dropped down a cliff. Didn't matter though, there was a banister. No chance of getting in without falling off the cliff!

I inhaled through my nose, something was off, but it was a nice off scent. I looked around me. Oh, someone had planted little red flowers. I crouched down to look at them. They were pretty, plus the colour was right for the company they grew around. Blood red. A smile stretched across my face. A light breeze blew across the open space, a scent shook off one of the little blossoms. The scent hit me, whoa. A human had touched this, and their scent was sweet, kinda like honey. It was nice, for blood anyway. I could also smell another vampires' scent, but I knew the scent didn't belong to anyone in the guard though, must have been one of Aros' guests. Although apparently they were long gone, oh, that would kind of explain Caius' anger. I straightened up, looked around, and started walking to an entrance.

Once back inside, I heard silent footsteps, careful to match mine, against the stone floor behind me. I sniffed the air. Uhoh, here comes Captain Sarcastic/Tease with his smartalic comment.

"Hey Professor X," the vamp called from behind. He should have considered my reaction before saying that. Oh, he did. Pity. I whirled around and launched myself at Felix with a speed faster than I ever bother to use. I processed his expression as we crashed to the floor, he looked shocked, probably because I usually never move _that_ fast. That look on his face made me feel slightly smug.

"DON'T, call me that. My name is Ray, Felix. You of all people should know that." I leapt away from him; he got up and dusted himself off.

"Sheesh," Felix muttered. _Well what she can do is the same as X, _he thought. I sighed, trust Felix to flirt and cause trouble. Well he did kinda have a point, and because of that I put the blame on my human heritage. When I was human, I was sensitive to what others thought, and give people a weak mental view of what I wanted, for the most part, without them knowing I was the source. Basically I was a weak telepathic.

I sort of remember meeting Aro. It had been about 3 years ago, and human memories fade, but I remember Aro being ecstatic about the possibilities of me becoming an immortal. After he changed me, I turned out to being everything he had hoped for, and then some. I could still read minds, but without physical contact unlike him, even better, strongly project my thoughts to others, the strength was the biggest addition to the ability. I could have sworn he would explode with enthusiasm over the first few months. I was, am, basically his little "prodigy" or whatever. For me, the only joy I got out of my powers was digging through someone's memories, even forgotten ones.

I eventually drifted to my room. The room itself wasn't overly big, but it had a bed to lie on, a desk and laptop, shelf, closet and a bedside stand. It wasn't much too some standards, but it was a private place, all to myself. Going over to the bed and laying down, then closing my eyes, I let thoughts flow through my head. I desperately wished for the sleep that would never come.

It was exactly 2 minutes I got to myself, not even. A small tap on my door made me open my eyes and actually bother to sit up. Whoever was outside gave me a thought to catch my attention, knowing I might not open the door, depending on what they wanted. Geeez, he _so_ would!

I rolled my eyes and went to the heavy wooden door. I ripped it open, what should really feel like about 50 pounds, instead weighted like that of a feather to me. Outside stood Alec and Jane, Alec looked like he was going to burst into laughter, while Jane was smirking; I tried hard to resist the urge to giggle. I moved to let them in, Jane pounced onto the bed, and sat up patiently, Alec went to the desk and sat on top, he was still grinning.

"You throw Felix off a cliff or something? He looks mad! You should see the look on his face!" he finally started to laugh, it echoed off the stone walls.

"Actually, it's best if you didn't, I think he would rip off yourhead Ray. What did you really do to him?" Jane finally gave in, despite her urge to keep a calm face, she was grinning just like her brother.

"You know how he's always poking fun at my telepathic powers…" I didn't even have to say anymore for them to understand. Alec roared with laughter until it got to the point where he fell off the desk, then that ended up sending me and Jane into a flurry of giggles.

"What did he call you this time?" Jane asked. I grimaced; Alec smirked, trying to provoke me.

"Professor X…" I said grudgingly. It was dead silent for a moment. Jane and Alec just stared at me, my eyes started to narrow.

"Well, you have to admit, he is right…" Jane said, I turned to look at her, my eyes widened when I looked at her. She had the most innocent looking expression on her face, man, didn't see that often coming from her. Someone's thoughts caught my attention; I whirled toward Alec, shocked. He stifled a giggle.

"Ray, you can read multiple minds at once, dig through those minds as well, show those discovered memories, and project want you want from your mind to another's telepathically. Technically, you are one big super hero power package…" Alec spilled.

"But am I the hero or bad guy? Tell me that Alec." I interrupted. Both remained silence, I looked toward Jane, but she looked down. Alec was thinking hard, I tried desperately to ignore him. _Just forget I said anything, ok?_ I thought. Jane nodded at once, Alec looked up at me, I stared back at him. His eyes were getting progressively darker I noticed. I was guessing my eyes looked the same, I snuck a peek at Jane, and her eyes were exactly like her brothers'. Black with a slight tint of red. Sighing, I rubbed my neck, even though I knew that wouldn't help the dry burning in my throat.

_Do you think Heidi will be back soon? _Alec wondered.

_We could go ask Aro, if you want. _I replied, he nodded, Jane looked at us questioningly. "Cummon, let's go see Aro." We all got up and left the room, but stopped just in front of the door just as it swung shut behind us. "Should we take the long way or the short way?" I asked.

"Long if you don't mind, I'd like a chance to think." Alec decided, Jane nodded in agreement, as did I. We started left, strolling down a long corridor. I tuned out everyone's thoughts, especially Alec and Jane's, and because we all wanted privacy to think in our own heads, it was simply out of courtesy. I thought for a moment, I would have to think about asking to take a few weeks leave, it had been months since I had seen Daniel, and Mum. Last I heard from Dad, they were to be in Egypt for the summer. If I was human, I would have minded the heat if I had been to go. Now, not so much. I thought some more about Daniel, he has the same black hair as I do, and brown eyes, as I _did_. How old was he the last time I saw him? 13? Wow, his birthday was coming up; I had to at least call him. Alec looked at me; he probably noticed my eyes going huge. Check that, yep, he did. _Something-_ Alec started, I shook my head. I didn't have to make him worry about my personal matters. By then we had reached Aro's office, I knocked on the door lightly.

"Come in," a light voice said. I opened the door and entered, Alec and Jane followed me in. "Ah, Ray, Jane, Alec. Come in, come come! What can I do for you this fine day?" Aro crowed. I smiled at him, he was enthusiastic as ever, I always swore nothing could dampen Aro's good mood, ever.

"When will Heidi be back, master?" Alec asked. Aro thought for a moment, not wanting to tell us. I groaned when I saw what the answer was, Alec looked at me, he didn't seem impressed, neither did Aro.

"Two more weeks, I'm afraid my dears. But I am assuming there is something else you want to ask?" Aro looked at me directly. I stepped forward.

"Master, you know me well." I said, Alec and Jane both turned toward me, confused. "But please, let us go out and hunt. In Florence at least, for a few hours, 1 person each?" I tried desperately not to beg. Aro studied me with appraising eyes. I tried not to cringe when I heard what he was thinking: _the poor little new born. _I hated that, so I haven't seen a full decade of this new life yet, 3 years, yet I was still referred to as a newborn. I mean, wasn't a newborn technically referred to as a newborn in the _first year_ of this life? My mind flashed back to another time when Felix had provoked me, and what he had thought after he recovered from my attack, _newborn._ My lip twitched upward in disgust momentarily.

Aro looked out the window to the sunset, ever thoughtful. "As longs as you are to be back by 5:00 am, I see no issue." He told us. The three of us nodded, all thoughts aligned, ever grateful. "Avoid seeing eyes and the sun, be swift." Aro warned. Again, Alec, Jane, and I nodded once more, and then we left. We made our way toward the garden; we met no one on our way. Not Felix, not Demetri, not even Caius or Marcus. We met no one. Outside, it was dusk. Perfect, again, no light would reflect off of any of us. I headed toward the balcony, Alec followed, but Jane stopped in the middle of the garden, looking around her at the little red blossoms, just as I had, not too long ago.

"Since when were these here?" she asked, the slightest look of disgust was on her face, I didn't understand.

"This morning, Aro's guests planted them. I mean, I don't know why, but they look great here. I like them." I answered, Jane's twin nodded in agreement. "What's bothering you Jane?" I asked, I didn't dare look into her mind, she might be thinking about someone she hates right now, and when Jane thought about what she wanted to do to the people she hated, well, you really wish you hadn't seen that. I saw that once about 2 years ago, after that I was more careful than ever around Jane.

"Yeah, they're nice, but…" her voice trailed off, but her eyes hardened. "I know _one_ of the people who helped plant a lot of these flowers." I studied her expression, careful not to read her mind. I cocked my head to the side.

"Who?"

"Alice Cullen," she said, her voice slightly seething. Alec rushed over to her, putting a cautioning hand on her shoulder. Oh, I had only heard of this vamp a few times, but a few was enough. All I knew was that she had a power that Aro wants, and bad, I never asked Aro really. It really didn't matter to me any way, why should I care? But by the looks of it, Jane really hated this chic.

"Aww, cummon Jane! Forget about it, let's hunt!" I coaxed, I smiled, barring my teeth in the process. She shot a glare at me, but relaxed; Alec took her by the hand and hauled her over to where I stood. Once beside me, I sneered at them. "Catch me if you can!" I coiled, and then sprang over the banister, and over the cliff. Then I was soaring. I heard Alec hoot and holler behind me as he too jumped over the ledge, and then Jane screech with exhilaration as she jumped as well. The wind whipped my long black hair upward as I plummeted downward. If I did this as a human, there was the slightest chance in which I could have survived, but now? No worries and the feeling was absolutely _amazing_. I laughed, if my mum saw this, she would freak. The ground was about 100 meters closer now; I righted myself, ready to land.

I landed on my toes silently, bending my knees. I heard Alec and Jane land on either side of me, looked back, we all smiled at each other. Then we were running. It was so easy, my breathing was normal, my legs moved as easily as if walking, and my vision was impeccable. I couldn't stop marvelling at the beauty of the Tuscan landscape as we ran through, no matter how long I would live in Volterra; I bet I would never get use to the landscape.

It took us an hour to get to Florence, if we hadn't stop to talk for a bit, we could have made it in half the time. Now we were perched on the rooftop of a deserted building. I turned to the twins. "Jane, as much as you hate it, we're hunting people that others will not even notice them missing, ok? Oh cummon, don't give me that look! They're people too! Plus we have to be careful!"

_Ha! People too. _"Look, I know you're thinking about your family, but no. You cummon. We never worry about that at home-"

"Jane!" She just glared at me.

_Going soft now, are we? _, there was an edge to her thoughts.

"Look at the bright side; we don't have to wait for Heidi like Aro said…" I pointed out.

"Aro said!" Jane mimicked in a harsh, high soprano. "Gro-"

"Ladies, ladies. Now if you're done, I think I found something that will meet both your needs half way." Alec interrupted. Both me and Jane started. "Don't even bother. Look." Alec pointed, and I followed his line of sight. There was a gang of 6 starting a fight 3 blocks away.

"Score! Nice one Alec!" I commented, he grinned. "Two each, sweet." Jane snorted at my dividing of bodies, I smirked. "Shall we?" The three of us flew across the rooftops, to the point where we were basically on top of the gang. Fists were flying below, but no drop of precious blood had been shed. I looked at Alec and nodded. His face went utterly calm and smooth after he looked away. I heard a huff from Jane, I turned towards her, and our gazes locked.

_Why do you have him do this? _She asked. My eyes narrowed, while she continued to glare at me.

_I told you, I don't like hearing my victim's thoughts as they die, _I told her_. _Jane's eyes were bored, but her eyebrows rose at my choice of words while talking about my food source. _Yes, victims Jane. They are in-_

_Don't give me the whole innocent excuse, Ray. They are WEAK, SOFT, DEFENCELESS humans. HUMANS, Ray. We need to feed, they kill their "precious and cute" animals all the time and they don't think twice. _She retorted. All the while she had ranted; I was flinching, only because she made me think of Daniel._ Look, stop being soft and actually start acting like what you are. A VAMPIRE, Ray, you are a VAMPIRE! So unless you can find another food source, good luck erasing your "guilt". _Her conscious thoughts were full of apathy; this is the Jane everybody knew, the one I hardly knew after we started to get along.

A scream came from below, mine and Jane's bickering cut off. Alec was gone, he was already feeding below, and the smell of blood beckoned me. I growled, the blood was mine; flipping into the dark alley below, I snagged one of the groaning human. He couldn't see, feel, or hear me; all that occupied his thoughts was darkness and questions. Of course, no matter what, I would always hear those last few senseless mental questions for the rest of my life. By now it didn't matter, my hunting instincts took over completely, I wanted the blood! I thrust my teeth into the humans' neck and drank deeply. The blood was pure and sweet, whatever this human did, he did not do drugs or alcohol, that was for sure, he was _clean_, and as almost always, it tasted good. I could sense and feel him becoming weaker and weaker, slipping away fast.

Then he was dry. I quickly tossed him away from me, and snatched another body up off the street and started drinking again. Yuck. Whoever this guy was, he smelled and tasted horrible. This guy had clearly done something nasty, but blood was blood, and it fuelled my system, so I didn't care. As long as I got the blood, it was fine. I didn't drink as heavily as before, but I drank quickly. And soon, I was done. I shoved this body away from me and looked up, Jane was almost done, and her brother was standing a few feet away, watching us feed. He watched me in particular, probably amused by the "newborn". Great. How long would this go on for? Our gazes locked as I watched him. His coat was spotless, eyes the color of a red rose. Of course, I mean all of our eyes did, but it looked even better on others. There was a loud smash beside us; Jane had flung her bodies into the nearest brick wall, a wicked smile on her face.

"Jane, that's not the best way to dispose of bodies." I chided, "Watch how it's done."

She looked at me barely interested. "I've been around longer than you have, so don't think you know more than I do." Nevertheless, she started grabbing her two bodies and piled them at the end of the alley, Alec and I followed suit. Then, simultaneously we all jumped onto the roof above, we then each grabbed a match from Alec and lit them.

"Bombs away!" I sung, and we let the burning matches fall onto the bodies down below. Combined with the traces of venom left from feeding, the bodies caught fire quickly. Soon, all that was left was a smoldering heap below. I clutched what I had pocketed from the bodies. "How much did you guys get out of your meals?"

"50 Euros, cell phone, and a lighter." Alec recited.

"20 Euros, a cell, and a knife." Jane said, her voice dripping with the slightest irritation.

"30 Euros, and an IPhone, sweet. I don't know about you guys, but I need some… new stuff. Why don't we pool together?"

"Alright, why not?" Alec stared at me curiously, but he didn't ask. "One problem though."

"What's that?" I asked.

Jane had a look of utter look of disgust on her face. "How could _you _of all people not know, you mind reader?" I turned on her, she knew why I asked!

"Excuse me if I don't want to intrude on the minds of my two friends that are basically family. I block you guys for your own privacy, thank you!" I hissed at her. I tore off afterword towards a more populous area. Once I found an alleyway where I could leap off the roof without being noticed, I made my way toward a sunglasses vendor. It was dark enough that the guy with the dreads wouldn't freak over the eye colour.

"Hey, quanto per questi?" I called out to him. He looked up startled, then turned his gaze to the pair of sunglasses in my hands that I picked off the cart.

"€ 8." He replied, his eyes widening, I heard breathing behind me, I didn't turn around.

"E questi?" The person behind me said. The dreads guys sucked in his breath.

"€ 16…" he whispered. I turned around. Alec was counting out the proper amount, then held his hand out for my share, I handed it to him, which he in turn gave to the vendor.

"Grazie." We said, turned, and then walked back to the alley. Halfway in, I leapt onto one wall, crossed to the wall across, then back again until I was back on the roof, Alec close behind.

"You could have a little more grace you know." I said to Jane, putting on my new sunglasses. She accepted hers from her brother with a hard expression on her face. When I looked away she turned towards me, her face stone impassive. All of this I saw through Alec's mind.

"NO!" Roared Alec, and then I was on fire. Every bone, every fibre of my body was in pain. Face planting into the ground, I heard stone collided with stone, and the fire was gone. Alec had tackled Jane, breaking her concentration. Hisses and growls erupted behind me. I got up to see a sight I thought I would never see, Jane and Alec were facing each other both in a crouch, eyes wide, full lips pulled apart with perfect teeth barred. Jane was hissing, and Alec growling at the one he always swore to never hurt. I knew they teased each other often, but this for sure was not playing around.

"Hey." I called, but they just got louder. "Hey!" I was still thinking of the pain Jane had inflicted on me moments ago, while focusing on stopping Jane and Alec, wishing that this would not turn into a fight. We would be spotted for sure. Yet somehow, in mere seconds, both were on the floor. Jane was panting, Alec, of course being Alec, used his gift to escape the pain. He got up and came next to my side. Jane kept panting, on the edge of scream. Alec put a hand on my shoulder.

"Please stop." He requested. I complied, and in mere seconds Jane was back to normal. She lunged towards me, but I danced out of the way.

"How do you like them apples?" I mumbled, dropping back into the alley. Jane hissed at me, I laughed internally at her. I started walking towards the closest mall, I heard the twins walking behind me, one keeping closer than the other. Once in the mall, I went straight to a map, looking for an Apple Store. Something by the left side of my head caught my attention.

"Let's get this shopping trip done and over with." She hissed quietly into my ear. "I want to go home." I turned and walked away. Turns out the Apple Store was just down the corridor, once inside, I headed for the IPod Touches. One glance at the price and out I went, Alec raced after me and grabbed me by the arm. Jane huffed behind us.

"What`s wrong" he said, effortlessly dragging me back.

"I don't have enough. Can we go home now?" I pleaded. He let my arm drop, signalled Jane, and we left the mall. We headed back to the alley, scaled the walls and off we went. As we ran, I could hear multiple questions running through Alec's mind, whereas Jane wanted to rip my head off. Great. I would remember to stop talking to her until she cools off. This time we made it back to Volterra in half the time it had taken us to get to Florence, this time, we hadn't stopped to chat. Once we got to the cliff, we climbed up and then over the banister back into the garden where we started. I started to retrace our steps from earlier that evening, a thought occurred to me while walking away. _You might wanna come with, just to prove to Aro we're all back._ I thought reluctantly, both followed anyway.

Thankfully, Aro was in his study alone again, so we didn't have to hide anything from anyone. Once at the door, we stopped, waiting for an invitation in.

"Enter," Aro commanded. He was behind his desk, writing. He didn't even look up at us when he started conversation. "How successful were you?"

"I found a group of 6 thugs fighting in an alleyway, master." Alec responded.

"So we each got 2 bodies." I interjected quickly; Aro looked up at me, smiling. He flipped his papers over and stood up, coming around the desk to come stand in front of us.

"Always have to be fair, do we Ray?" he asked. I looked down, slightly embarrassed. He laughed lightly, "I suppose your mother taught you to be like that? Amazing woman she is, if I remember correctly…" He smiled and winked at me as he said this. I nodded slightly in agreement. "But of course, that is the way you are naturally. What is wrong dear Jane? You have not said a word!" he sighed.

"Ray and I had a… misunderstanding." She said slyly, shooting a glance at me. I shrugged.

_Wondered what happened. May as well not push the newborn. _"Ah well, blood is worth arguing over. Now, now. Off you go. I will see you all later." He dismissed us. The three of us nodded and left the office, all of us going opposite directions. Of course, I made a straight bee line for my room. Once inside I went for my laptop and sat on the desk chair. Once I switched it on, I had to decide what I wanted to do once it was on. Wow, that was fast. I HAD to email Daniel, there was no getting around it. I hadn't talked to him in over a month, so I had to get the "gossip up to date" as my mum would say. I would have to figure out what to get him for his birthday as well, but knowing him, he would already know what he would get from me. Of course.

I logged into my email, 2 emails from Dad, and 1 from Daniel. One of dads' was probably from mom, she didn't particularly like technology, but she could find it useful at time, so she could tolerate it. I guess that's a reason why Aro liked my mom, in a sense, she could tolerate stuff. Let's see, Daniel wants me to come out to visit, as did Mom, aaaaanndd… Dad. Oh yeah, I had to go visit, and soon. There was a light breeze that flew into me, and a pale hand threw the laptop closed with a blinding speed. I was startled, I was so occupied that I had tuned everyone and everything out. Alec whipped my chair around to face him, his red eyes wild with confusion and questions.

"HOW did you do that?" he hissed at me, eyes feverishly gleaming. I stared at him, confused and shocked, I didn't want to bother reading his mind, this was already too weird.

"What?"

"Duplicate Jane's ability, but on more than one person!" he urged. I bit my lip, oh, that. I wasn't entirely sure myself, but that wouldn't be good enough for him.

"Uhhhhh…" I stuttered. He glared at me, waiting. "I wanted you and Jane to stop, but I also wanted Jane to feel the pain I felt when she did it to me. So when I focused on… payback? And you two to stop fighting, that's what happened." I gushed out. Alec let out a gust of wind, he was still tense though.

"Are you sure!" he urged. I nodded, unsure what else to say. He backed off, rubbing the back of his head, and sat on the edge of my bed. "Wow, I never knew you could do that." He muttered.

"Yea, neither did I." I agreed quietly, exhaling harder than necessary. I turned and looked at him, he stared back. "That was something else though wasn't it?" I replied to a mental thought. He nodded, lost in thought. I turned back to the computer, concentrating on replying to the emails and tuning everyone out. I shouldn't have tuned everyone out, what I should have done was concentrate on Alecs' thoughts.

"Do… you think you could do that with my gift?" he asked from directly behind me. That shocked me; I whirled in the seat and tackled him on to the bed without thinking.

"NO! Absolutely, positively NO!" I snarled. Alec was shocked. He wasn't breathing, blinking, nothing. Then I snapped out of it, realizing I was directly on top of him. I leapt away and across the room, leaving a wide margin of space between us. Why would he ask that? How could he be so stupid? Even though I had never experienced his power, I knew what it was capable of. His eye brows rose incredulously.

"Why not? If you could multiply it to be quicker than mine…" he trailed off. With each world he said, my eyes got narrower and narrower, noticing this, he got up and started toward me. I hissed a warning. He ignored it, and continued towards me. I tried to run around him and get away from him, but he was quicker. Alec caught me tightly by my arm, and as lightly as possible toss me into the wall. Thankfully, the wall did not buckle under my harsh contact, but unfortunately, he had me pinned against the wall, blocking all possible means of escape, he was that close. We were almost nose to nose, I stopped breathing.

Alec studied my expression, eyes widening, then backed away. "Sorry I did that, I overreacted…" I was still frozen against the wall, not breathing. I knew that even though he didn't seem like it, Alec was a strong fighter, even without his gift, but he had never been like that to me before. I was shocked, no doubt. But it was not just because he was 2 inches taller than me, and possibly intimidating, although not at all slightly, to me any way. Alec hung his head slightly, looking to his right, I couldn't see his expression. "I'll see you later." He murmured, and then he was gone. I slowly turned to the door as it clicked quietly shut. What just happened? I felt weird, dazed I think…

I needed air. For the fourth time tonight, I headed for the garden. Although this time, unlike earlier, it was not empty. Marcus stood leaning on the banister overlooking the country side. His black eyes stared into the moon, reflecting the pale white light it gave off, strands of his black hair was tossed in the light breeze. He looked as bored as ever. I never understood why, he never really thought about whatever it was that made him bored. Then again, I had never really asked why either, although I doubted he would ever tell me, never in a million years. Nobody really knew why he was like this anyway, but everyone was so use to it, so he must have been in this state for years. I had heard Aro say once that Marcus use to be so full of life generations ago, but when I had asked anyone in the guard if that was true, they acted as if that were not even possible, so it MUST have been before any of our time, us in the guard anyway.

His expression then changed, from bored to… mourning? Whoa, Marcus showing emotions? Never saw that in my new life ever, as long as I have known Marcus, nothing. I deliberated what to next, unsure of his reaction to my just being here, I mean, I could be interrupting or intruding on something big. Who knew? I started retreating, but he then spoke aloud.

"Come here child." I froze in the shadows, my eyes widening. He turned towards me slowly, and then after making sure I was looking at him, beckoned me to the spot where he stood in absolute stillness. With caution, I slowly made my way over to him. I was… wary, I suppose the word was, of this new behaviour. He turned back to the sky and started to watch the moon again. I stopped about a meter away from him, relaxing against the banister, yet still on guard. Marcus did nothing, I bit my lip, unsure what to do or say. Marcus made the decision for me.

"I notice you seem to spend a great deal of time with the twins, you are all very close." What he said wasn't a question, it was a statement. Marcus of all people would understand those bonds, he could sense them, go figure.

I shrugged. "Jane and Alec are like family." I simply responded. Marcus of course didn't betray any emotion.

"Isn't that how life in the guard supposed to be? That is how everyone treats one another. Of course you and Felix…" he trailed off. My lips turned upward in revulsion, and I hissed quietly. Marcus, as usual, did nothing. He turned to face me to… to study me, I suppose. "You though… you are quite unlike many in the guard. You are… spontaneous." He concluded. That hit me, I mean… I never would have guessed that…

I looked at him weirdly. "Who are you and what have you done with Marcus?" I gushed. The words I had thought of so quickly spilled out of me before I thought about keeping my mouth shut. Marcus laughed humorously and ghosted away. Whoah, what just happened? That _was_ Marcus, but… his thoughts were totally different from that when involved with business. Of course, like everybody else when we fed, our thoughts were no longer our own, so…

I sprung up onto the banister, sitting with my back against the wall. I sighed as I turned to look at the moon, casting its beautiful silver glow across the landscape. It added to the magic of Tuscany in my opinion. A thought appeared nearby in someone's head that caught my attention. It was a current view of me on the banister, one leg on top on the banister, curled in, the other hanging freely over the garden ground. I was looking at the moon, my pale skin shining silver, black hair flying lightly in the breeze, with my full lips slightly upturned. My eyes, a ruby red colour. There was flicker in thoughts, wow. Felix was on a roll tonight!

"Hey Demetri," I greeted.

"Ray," he nodded at me. He stood in the dark shadows, almost blending in, to the point of being a part of the shadows. I finally turned my head to face him; his face was utterly smooth and calm. His mind now though, was another matter. I almost sighed in agitation, but managed to rein it in. "Felix said…" he began slowly.

"Felix said!" I mimicked harshly, rolling my eyes. I jumped off the banister and went to where Demetri stood; he made no move of defence, nor aggression. "I may not have known Felix as long as you have Demetri, but in the past 3 years I've known him, I've learned that he likes to push buttons and that stuff for fun so…" Demetri put his hands up, stopping my rant in its tracks.

"I know that Ray, I just want to know if what he said is true." He said warily, checking my reactions.

"Which was?" I said through my teeth.

"He claims you attacked him for no reason." He relayed. I laughed at this statement; Demetri lost the tense look that had escaped my attention.

"What? He ashamed that he got taken down by a little freak like me?" I laughed harder. "And it wasn't for no reason, FYI. He-" I cut off, again not wanting to go any further with the conversation. Demetri folded his arms behind his back and walked away from me and into the moonlight. He turned slightly so I could see his face.

"Was he, ah, flirting?" he asked casually. Casually, yet carefully.

Beyond words, and not wanting to slip up, I growled at Demetri. Furiously, I showed Demetri a mental view of what happened. He "watched" carefully, paying attention to each second he saw and heard. Demetri abruptly fully faced me, and what I saw surprised me. Demetri had a… mischievous smile on his face?

"Cummon, let's go find Felix." He beckoned to me. Not wanting to miss a chance to see Felix be humiliated by his best friend, I followed Demetri. We ghosted through the castle with ease, meeting no one along the way. Everybody was off being occupied by whatever. I had no clue where we were going, and I didn't bother asking or checking, but Demetri knew where to find Felix, thanks to his tracking ability. He just knew where to go.

We travelled further and further into the depths of the castle (Three floors underneath the city, but it was still deep). Eventually we were in one of the large dungeons. Inside lay strewn pieces of old, broken, and mangled pieces of wood, brick, stone, pipes, and metal. The room was full of fresh dust and the torturous screams of metal being played with. Felix was in the middle of the mess, more like causing it! Bet he was practising to show off again.

_Bet you he's practising to show off. _ I thought to Demetri.

_15 euros?_

_You're on! _

"Felix…" Demetri called, Felix ignored us until he finished grinding the large rock shard in his hands to dust. He finally looked up at us, first looking at Demetri, then me, his eyes brightening, but they showed trouble.

"Demetri! You brought X down so I can deal with her, great!" Felix said to Demetri. Demetri looked confused.

"X?" he asked. Okay, so the name was what was throwing him off, not why I was down here. Besides, I had already explained it to him, he already knew the truth. Felix was gunna spill, well this should be interesting.

"Yeah, she can do a bunch of mental stuff right? So she's like Professor X, that's where the X comes from." Felix explained, trying to provoke me again. I rolled my eyes, sighing.

"Geeez, don't try and make me sound like I a belong in a mental hospital or something Felix." I muttered. He grinned in response. I thought of something else. "And hey! Quit showing off, and preparing for my demise or something!"

"Me? I'm not showing off." Felix replied, trying to sound innocent. Yet all the while he was picking up another bolder roughly the size of my head preparing the best angle to crush it to dust.

"Well, you know someone is being a show off when they are crushing a bolder the size of your head with their bare hands..." I grumbled over the sound of the bolder being demolished. Felix smirked. I shook my head, "See you guys around." I said, walking away. Somebody coughed behind me, a reminder, sighing, I threw Demetri 15 euros, he caught it reflexively. "Damn bet." I whispered through clenched teeth, Demetri laughed, but Felix kept watching my retreating back.

"Get back here X, we've got a score to settle!" Felix urged as I tried to leave, he leaned into a crouch. I turned to him, with a look of disgust on my face.

"I don't have _anything _to settle with _you_ Felix." I said to him, letting the darkness seep into my voice. Again I tried to leave the dungeon, trying desperately to tune everyone's thoughts out, with the exception of my own. Bad idea.

Felix sprang at me, throwing his arms around my torso as we crashed into the hard stone floor. I managed to wrestle free and swing Felix into a pile of pipes, he grunted as the pipes moaned and crashed under the weight of his impact. I thought he was done in for a moment, so I tried to flee, but he was much quicker than me. With teeth bared, he grabbed me by the throat with one pale hand, and tried to throw me downward but I managed to flip out of his grip somehow. Soaring through the air, I twisted out of the way of Felix's on coming hands. I landed in a crouch, baring my teeth and hissing. Felix was equally in an opposing stance, growling.

One moment I was seeing Felix ready to properly face off, the next moment the two of us were enveloped in a mist, and then I couldn't see anything, my sight enveloped in darkness. Oh, I could hear what was happening around me, and I could feel the cool stone against my cheek as I lay on the dungeon floor, but I was robbed of my own sight. Good thing I could read minds, it was my secondary sight source. I was curled into a ball on the dirty floor with my eyes squeezed shut, while Felix was flat on his stomach and his dark eyes searched blindly. There was an edge to the thoughts, oh no. This was the last person I would want to walk in on me and Felix fighting.

"Enough of this foolish nonsense." A cold voice rang out. "Release them." That same voice added grudgingly. My own sight was finally returned to me, I would have been happy if the sight that greeted me wasn't Caius giving me and Felix the death stare. It felt like he would hold it forever, good grief, did he expect lasers to shoot out of his eyes and disintegrate us? I bet he wished.

"I did not kill either of you out of Aro's sake, but beware. You know I would." He looked directly at me, only because I was the only one here who would see the truth and sincerity in that dark promise. Caius then turned away, and left us without a word. I hadn't noticed before, but Alec had been standing behind Caius the entire time, he was the one who Felix and I lost our sight to. I couldn't believe it. The look on his face was incredibly apologetic, yet I chose to ignore him.

"Nice going _idiot_! You could have gotten both of us killed, even if you were about to kill me." I hissed at Felix, he looked surprised.

"I wasn't going to kill you. Why would you think that? Besides, what would I do for the rest of eternity and who would I bother the hell out of?" Felix replied with a sly smile. A look of chagrin spread across my face as I gritted my teeth.

"Oh yeah, who indeed?" I grumbled, walking away. As I left the dungeon, I could hear Felix's laughter booming off the stone walls, ah, Felix, the biggest pain in my rear end. Ever since day one I had known it was going to be a long forever with Felix around. _Geez, it was never like this when I was a kid_, I thought to myself. Silent foot falls were audible behind me, but this time, it wasn`t Felix, it was Alec. He hadn`t apologized yet, that's why he was following me. Then all of a sudden, he was in front of me, blocking the stair well.

"Get out of my way Alec!" I growled at him. His pale face impassive, he didn't move. Oh sure, I could make him move if I wanted to, but that just wouldn't be polite.

"Just give me a chance Ray." He said back, face still expressionless. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you, but I saw you and Demetri coming down here, so I thought I would keep an ear open for trouble, and when I heard Felix trying to aggravate you, I started to come down, but Caius had already heard him, so he made come because I was the only one around who, look at me! I was the only one close by to stop you to from fighting! I didn't have a choice, okay?" he glared at me, I glared back, I didn't particularly like his explanation.

"There's always a choice! Now get out of my way." I retorted, again, he didn't move aside, so I shoved past as lightly and carefully as I could. He allowed me to past, probably so I wouldn't tear him to shreds. As I made my way up the spiralling stair case, Alec looked up at me.

"Ray! You know I'm sorry! I didn't use the full effects of my power at least, you're like family, I didn't want to hurt you!" he cried up at me, red eye pleading. I sneered.

"Oh cry me a river, Alec!" I called back. Ghosting up the rest of the stair to above ground, not once did I look back towards Alec.

I kept walking through the almost endless corridors, nothing to be done, nowhere to be. As I walked by a window, my reflection caught my eye. Wandering back to the dark window, I appraised my appearance, and not just because I was now drop dead (literally) gorgeous. Covered in dirt and grime from head to toe from fighting Felix, with the dress I was wearing ripped in places exposing my pale skin, as well as my tights, and my hair was knotted and tangled. Basically, I was a wreck. Rolling my eyes and head, I sighed. _It`s time to clean up, _I thought to myself.

Snagging a new dress from my room, I headed for the bathrooms. After cleaning myself up, all that was left now was to get the grime off my face. With my hair piled high on my head, I splashed a handful of warm water on to my face. Mmmh, warm, I kinda miss the feeling, the one where you would curl up in a blanket and feel so safe and warm it made you sleepy- stop. I was reminiscing too much now, it had been three years since I had been transformed, so obviously it was waaaay too late to change my mind about immortality. Technically, it had been to late when I had been bitten, but whatever. My family believed in this sorta stuff heavily, so they had my back all the way.

I looked up into the mirror. My face was dripping wet, and my irises were a glowing dark red, like puddles of blood. That was the price of this life; drain the life of others to sustain your own life. As disgusting as it would sound to human, what can you do when it your _only _source of food? The lives of so many others lost just to sustain my own, but Jane was right. What else could I do to feed myself for the rest of eternity? Definitely not blood bank bags, that would be gross, "dead blood" it was called around here. Nothing else to do so for now, taking lives and having it reflected in my eyes forever was what would have to happen for now.

I went to my room; again, deciding to finish the emails had started when Alec interrupted me. As I logged in, a new email appeared in my inbox, I stared at the senders name in shock. It Damien, my oldest brother, wow, I hadn't heard from him since I was last human, shortly before I came to Volterra. Apparently he was coming to Alexandria for a surprise, and Daniel even didn't even know about it, which was a shocker. The more I thought about Damien, the worst I felt. He thought I was away at a private school, he didn't even know what happened to me, and he was like my closest friend, it killed me, (despite the fact I was already dead)…I didn't see him much anymore, he was always away on business, but I always kept in constant contact.

The room started to suddenly shimmer, I looked around, confused. It was day break, and the morning sun was weakly shining through the window, and reflecting off my hard skin. Wandering to the window to face the valley, I smiled slightly. Morning was here at last.


	2. In Cold Blood

Chapter 2: In cold blood

"retsam eht rof part a si rats tniop etihw tsal eht, gninrub eb lliw htrae eht, gninruter sdrol emit ehT" I stopped singing, someone had come into my room and was standing over me. Pulling out my ear buds, I looked at the visitor. It was Chelsea.

"Aro has requested our presence in the main chamber." She announced in a clear voice, looking curiously at my red irises, I quickly looked away, she probably thought I had snuck out for a "bite".

Scowling, I said to her retreating form, "I got permission from Aro himself, for your info." In the door way, she stopped to turn and look at me with a look so bored and uninterested that it could almost measure up to Jane.

"Why would I care if you can't control yourself?" she said lazily, "now come Aro is expecting us _now_." Chelsea commanded. Turning expectantly for me to follow, I got up unwillingly from the bed and left first, but I did not start walking immediately. I wanted her in front of me, where she couldn't sneak up on me and attack me, wouldn't matter anyway, I would have known immediately right when she would make the decision. Up and up we went, all the way into tallest turret of the castle and into the main chamber.

The main chamber was, to some, standards, was not much. The entire chamber was made of white and green marble with high narrow windows above. The only furniture in the room was a few benches along the wall, but the main attraction was the three thrones on the raised platform at the end of the room. Sitting in the gold and black thrones were Marcus and Caius, both on either side of the lead throne reserved for Aro, but it was empty. Instead, Aro was standing with Demetri to the side. They were quietly discussing something, but I mean, there was no point in talking quietly, everybody had perfect hearing, but as I noticed from all the thoughts from in the room, no one was paying their conversation any heed. Anyone but me.

"I never did get to ask how the hunting went when the three of you came back from Siberia, was he difficult to catch?" Aro quietly asked Demetri. Siberia, so that was where Demetri and Felix had been for 2 weeks. Last night was the first time I had seen them since before; evidently they had recently arrived home with whoever they were hunting.

"When we finally caught up to him, it was… he claims to be called Edgar, master. And he denies all he has been accused of. I will say this though, it was easy to tell he was lying, he literally stank of it." Demetri explained. Aro side glanced at me, inviting me over. Coming obediently, I held out my hand at the same time, he took it. All the while he searched my mind, I searched his, looking at what he was searching for. He laughed as we both looked at each other's thoughts, both into each other's eyes.

"Don't worry, it will all be explained soon my dear." He said laughing, then things started to move. Some change in the atmosphere gave a signal, a signal I must have missed. Aro went to his throne, while I went to stand with Jane and Alec who had recently entered the chamber, on the main floor by Caius, and Demetri stood opposite of us by Marcus. Looking solemn, Aro said, "Bring in the prisoner."

The main doors burst open, and in came Felix and Santiago, dragging a tall vampire missing a few limbs. They halted at the front of the platform. Along with Felix, Santiago, and the prisoner came a horrid smell, like a… soaking animal, or dog, or something. Once many of us belonging to the guard got a whiff of the scent coming off the prisoner, we covered our nose. If I was still human I thing I would have retched, it was horrible. The smell bothered all of us except for Aro, Marcus, and Caius. Even Felix and Santiago had their noses wrinkled in disgust. The vampire looked up at my masters, and snarled. In response, Felix and Santiago tightened their grip on their prisoner, his snarl turned into a high pitched scream. Over the screaming, you could hear the cracking and snapping of his limbs. I studied the vampire as he writhed in pain; he was skinny, yet muscular, and bald. That surprised me, sure I haven't seen _that _many vampires in this new life, but I'm as sure as hell have never seen a _bald_ vampire. I wondered why he hadn't tried to escape two of the biggest and strongest vampires I've ever known, but once I saw his eyes, I understood why. His irises were black, he was too weak to try and escape. Even if he did escape their grasp, he would not have a hope in hell of escaping. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Caius got more and more annoyed by the minute.

"Felix, silence him." Caius ordered standing up. Felix managed to silence the bald vamp by carefully, yet forcefully grip his throat, which silenced him almost immediately. Caius started to walk forward, preparing to either interrogate, or torture the prisoner, but Aro waved him off, motioning for him to sit back down. He glared at Aro, but obliged. Then Aro sent a thought out: "Come to my side." Considering I was the only one in the room to "hear" this command, I obediently went to his left side where he sat. Nodding to Caius, an allowance to start, Caius began the trial.

"You have been brought before the Volturi under the accusation made against you that you have had dealings with the children of the moon. Do you accept or deny this accusation?" Caius barked at the bald vamp. All he did was snarl at Caius, in response, Caius' eyes burned with hate and anger. "Jane!" hissed Caius. Jane turned to look at the prisoner with the most angelic expression on earth, and the snarl turned to a scream, both Jane and Caius began to smile wickedly. All too soon for them though, it was over.

"Jane, dear?" Aro called off lazily, she broke concentration and looked at Aro meeting my gaze as well. She smirked as we both thought about the night before, Jane laughed mentally, while I cringed internally. Alec stared at us questioningly, noticing our gazes locked and each of our facial expressions, but unfortunately, this wasn't a time for games.

Aro briefly touched my elbow. _Read his mind, see what you can find, _he told me, looking up. I nodded slightly, he got up and together, we moved to the edge of the platform. Palm to palm with Aro in front of the prisoner; I dived into the thoughts and memories of the trapped vampire.

First I found his name, which indeed 100%, was Edgar. The rest of the information though, took more digging. The newest memories surfaced first, the fiery pain and torture from Jane all night, her red irises glowing over her angelic smile, Santiago holding him prisoner somewhere deep within the castle, before that though… he was struggling, trying to block memories so Aro would not find them, but it was useless. No one but Renata could keep me out.

Brow furrowed and eyes closed, I bowed my head and pushed on. Demetri, Felix, and Santiago closing in, mountains, flashes of white, going further and further back into the past. Two months of running through Siberia, the cold fear of being caught, never stopping, never resting. I subconsciously felt Aro tremble with excitement; I had found what he was looking for. A large, _large_, wolf that looked a lot like Lupin had in The Prisoner of Azkaban movie I saw as a kid, with white fur flecked with gray, it was god awful ugly, I mean _real _ugly, and it smelled horrible, just like Edgar.

The wolf was covered in rubble and blood, it had been caught in a landslide, and the snow had made it hard to escape. It had almost given up until Edgar had shown up and helped it, but that is when things had changed. It turned into a man, it was then that Edgar had realized that this man was one of the children of the moon, and that it was against the vampire law to interact with them unless the vampire in question was eliminating the werewolf. Even still, Edgar helped.

Emerging from his mind, I looked to Aro for guidance. He nodded, allowing me to share what I had just discovered. Stepping back to stand beside Aro's empty throne, while Aro remained at the front of the platform, I began the tale.

"His name is Edgar; he did indeed deal with one of the children of the moon, but to save it." Remembering what I had seen. Edgar looked at me with wide eyes full of fear; there was another thing there too… wonder? He seemed to be curious as to when Aro got his hands on another mind reader, one who did not need contact to know what another was thinking.

Caius looked disgusted, and not just because of the smell emanating off of Edgar, but at the thought of helping a werewolf. "Well _Edgar_, you still committed this act in full awareness of the law in place." Edgar just stared at him dully, remaining silent. I caught a thought from Caius, and warned Aro of the impending act. Aro turned to look at Caius and waved him off.

"Calm, my brother, we will get the information we need." He said soothingly, Caius whipped his head around, not to glare at Aro, but at me. I held up my hand in defense, and peace. That's when Caius broke the stare to look at Edgar, sweeping past me to stand by Aro. He turned the glare to Edgar, his nose wrinkling.

"Can we get any more information? Asked Caius, "I want to finish this now." I eagerly stepped forward to complete the task, but he blocked my way. "If you please, _Aro_." He sneered. I reluctantly stepped back, pursing my lips in a pout.

_Don't worry; there will be plenty of more chances for you in the future._

_Caius knows I don't have to be directly in front of someone to hear their thoughts right? _I asked. Alec just shrugged in response. Jane looked at him, wondering what was going on, but she looked at me next, understood, than ignored it. All the while, Aro had been searching, gliding to Marcus for a decision, then Caius, and then, the verdict was made.

"Do you have a final statement?" Aro asked Edgar. Edgar looked up at the three leaders sneering.

"Yeah, I do. I don't regret what I did, and I'm glad it was the last kind thing I could do before I die. And you know what? I hope that werewolf lives a long, happy life, cuz it was worth it." He spoke with feeling, passion. I had to agree with him, even if the werewolves were our sworn enemies, it wasn't right to leave a living, breathing being on their deathbed. Aro sat down on his throne thoughtfully.

"Fair words, Edgar. But it was still against our law." Aro warned. Nodding his head, Caius went and sat down.

"Eliminate him." Caius barked. Edgar closed his eyes, no thoughts of remorse or regret.

_I'm so sorry_, I sent to him. I received no reply back.

Felix, Santiago, and Demetri jumped into action, a huddle of black shapes. Caius slid into the middle with a lighter in hand, and just as many times as I have seen and heard the past three years, a loud shrieking sound of an immortal being torn apart, and the sharp, strong smell of that immortal being burned filled the room. With that, the trial was over, and Edgar's charges were fulfilled.

Once again, Aro stood and came to the edge of the platform. "Felix, Demetri, and Santiago…" he called. The three of them stepped forward, away from smoldering remains. "…and Ray," Aro added, smiling at me. Smiling back, I joined Felix, Demetri, and Santiago at the base of the platform. "There is still the problem of the wolf, it must be eliminated. I want the four of you to track it and take it down." He commanded.

"There must be no mistakes." Caius warned, and the 4 of us nodded in agreement, all in sync. I thought it was time leave now, but Aro seemed to have other plans.

"Felix, Demetri and Santiago, go to Florence and hunt. You will undoubtedly need your strength to take down the werewolf." said Aro. "Stay low, and out of the light. Stay inconspicuous." He advised. The trio bowed, and then they were gone, I could hear multiple mental groans of jealousy as they left, including from the twins. They were allowed to feed, while the rest of us had to stay here. Even though the twins and I had eaten last night, the thought of blood still appealed to us. Besides, we had only gotten two people each. Aro then signalled Afton, who stood by the entrance, to come forward. He joined me at the front of the platform before Aro. We nodded at each other as a greeting.

"Afton, I want you to take Ray down below, and help her train for the coming fight. She will be a most valuable asset for taking down the wolf." I flinched inwardly as Aro said this, remembering my first session of training when I was born… or whatever into this new life. It… kinda got messy. Aside from my reaction, I sensed someone else get a cold shiver of shock running down their spine, Probably Chelsea, worried about Afton, I think, I didn't even bother to check, whatever. Afton threw me a witty smile, uh oh.

"Suuure!" he said gleefully, lovely, time to get ready for revenge. Bowing, we too left the chamber, but not before I caught Alec's eye. He looked, anxious I suppose. I didn't know why, he had seen me fight several times before; it was probably because of my size. Again, I didn't bother checking.

As I walked along the corridor with Afton, I sent a message _I don't see the problem here, you know_. For the second time today, I got no reply. Instead, I got a message from someone else.

_Try not to get to beat up, Ray. That would be terrible_. Complete sarcasm and apathy was bolded in the statement, I tried hard not to laugh aloud.

_Yeah, it would be complete torture for you. Wouldn't it Jane?_ I replied, laughing mentally.

_I'm the one who tortures people, just remember that. Don't test me. _This time I actually did laugh out loud, _really_ loud. Afton just stopped and looked at me incredulously. Then something occurred to him.

"Right, mental stuff." He reminded himself out loud. While I scowled at him, he just continued down the corridor, laughing at me. Again, time to prepare for revenge…

Once in a reasonable size dungeon, Afton turned to face off, but of course; there was a speech and a Q&A _first_, all for the _three year old _newbie, hello? Three years I've been here and apparently I know nothing. Although, then again…

"Ok, have you ever fought a werewolf before?" I stared at Afton blankly, waiting for realization to hit, which it did. "Right, sorry." He apologized, I nodded.

"I thought they were wiped out?" I asked, Afton nodded absentmindedly. "So did we, but there are still some out there in hiding, but we'll find them." He reassured me, the promise was a dark one, sending shivers down my spine.

"When fighting a werewolf, one of your instincts will be to bite the werewolf, but don't, our venom has no effect." This surprised me; I thought that since the werewolf was also human, it would have the same effect as the fiery transformation.

"So they are immune to our venom? Won't it affect it at all?" I asked, trying to understand the overwhelming information.

"Oh it will, just not what you would hope for. It will hurt the werewolf being bitten, and just bitten in general, but not the on the ground in agony affect." He said. Shoot. "Another thing, they are big, much bigger than you. Although… I suppose your size could be an advantage. Afton said, more or less to himself.

"It is when I fight Felix," I pointed out, "and he's tank." Afton laughed, mentally agreeing.

"A weak spot for your opponent, like many creatures, is the neck. Mind you, don't drink the blood, you'll want to, I can guarantee that, but it is disgusting. Remember that smell coming off that Edgar guy or whatever his name was?" again I nodded, the odor had been enough to set anyone off.

"But how do I fight?" I asked, trying to get to the main point.

"Well nothing personal Ray, but you are not going to be as valuable of an asset as Aro said. But I guess I will have to trust his judgement." This took me back, I had known that Aro had been talking about my mind reading ability in the throne room, and Afton's comment was just plain insulting.

"I can read minds remember? So if I know what attack my enemy is going to use each time, it will be a _major _asset." His eyes narrowed to slits, slightly agitated.

"Yes, I do very well remember that you can read minds, but it will not be a huge bonus in your favor." In response, my eyes widened, surprised and doubtful of his statement. I started to open my mouth to rebuttal his sentence. "It's true, I've seen it. Four years ago there was a mind reader who ended up fighting Felix. He almost lost if Aro hadn't stopped Felix from ripping the mind reader's head off." There was a replay of the memory in his head as he told the quick version of the event. Felix and a bronze haired vamp were brawling it out flipping, tackling, and throwing the other. I caught a glimpse of the bronze haired vampire's face; his eyes were full of a blazing determination, determination to protect something. There was something else too… his eyes were gold. A gold eyed vampire?

"Why are his eyes-"I never got the full question out when Afton punched me in the gut, sending me flying into the wall behind me. A large cracking sound echoed throughout the dungeon, but thankfully not from my head or any other part of my body. Instead, it was the wall that cracked from my impact. Afton sped in for the next blow, but I rolled away and up, trying to escape his line of reach. Once I righted myself, I jumped up onto the wall, and started to climb away from Afton. The stone crunched in the grasp of my fingers as I climbed higher and higher, and I still could not get away.

Afton jumped high, grabbing my ankle and dragging me back to the ground, struggling against the other, whipping back up and trying to take the other down. He tried to jump on top of me, to pin me down but I flipped over him as he passed where I had just stood. Once he got up again I was set to twirling, jumping, and flipping slightly out of Afton's reach, neither one of us would ever get tired. Suddenly, I went to tackle him, he just stood there, defenceless. Then he vanished, he just… disappeared, and yet I could still read his mind. That was it, I could read his mind! I started to dart around the room, watching myself from Afton's mind, trying to decipher his location. Stopping suddenly, turning to face where Afton stood hidden, I unleashed the same power I had used against Jane and Alec the previous night.

It was then Afton appeared, flat on his back, writhing on the floor in agony. I walked towards him, keeping my focus, Afton screamed in pain. Hauling him up to his knees facing away from me, I put my foot against the small of his back, his arms in my hands ready to pull them off. I kept him like that for a minute, then finally releasing him. He fell to his stomach, lying there gasping, glad to escape the… torture. Dusting himself off while he got up, a peculiar look of wonder came upon his face as I watched on from a short distance.

"I didn't know you could do that!" He said astonished, I looked at him sheepishly.

"To be honest, up until yesterday, I didn't know I could do it either."

The gears were turning in Afton's head, thinking. _It's just like what Jane is capable of_, he thought himself. I nodded.

"It's exactly like what Jane can do." I answered aloud to his silent statement. Although, I didn't mention that as it was the same thing Jane could do, I could cover more area… well, 2 people at least for now. Afton was thinking just like Alec had last night.

"Can you do more stuff like that? Maybe like with my own power?" he asked excitedly. I looked at him exasperated, but I did try. Concentrating, I focused on what I had learned from Afton when he had done it. He cocked his head to the side studying me. "You've disappeared for the most part, but you're wavering. I can see bits of you, like ripples, from head to toe." I sighed and gave up, shrugging. He grinned at me. "That was pretty cool though." I grinned back.

"So we done then?" I asked.

"I suppose so. Try and get ready for your trek, and good luck." Afton said, walking towards the exit. There was a swish of wind, and then he was gone, leaving me in the dark dusty dungeon.

Once upstairs again, I looked towards the west, the sun's angle indicated it was 3 pm. Wow, 3 already. I glided through the castle, unsure of what to do. People's thoughts blared through the each wall and door, reaching out to me wanting to be heard. _Aro is luck, _I thought to myself enviously, _at least he has some sort of an off switch_. Other people's thoughts floated through my head, making it hard to focus on my own. Caius was furious with the new receptionist in the north wing (typical)_, _Chelsea had just met up with Afton, their thoughts on each other, Renata… I couldn't tell. So many voices at once, it was just a major headache in itself.

I ached to visit someone, but I didn't really know anyone here well enough to pal around with, with the exception of Jane and Alec, but I was around them enough already. I needed to talk to someone I never really talked to before, someone… a door closed a few meters behind me, someone was leaving a room. Although I couldn't read the person's mind to figure out who it was. Renata.

I ran towards her, but unexpectedly she whirled around, black hair flying and black eyes blazing. As I quickly approached her, I started to forget what I was doing, coming to a complete stop within half away from Renata. She looked at me surprised, and with that I lost my confusion. Of course, it was her gift.

"Oh, hello Ray. It is Ray right?" she said lightly.

I finally regained the control to speak. "Yeah, that's it, I'm Ray."

"Well it's nice to meet you Ray. I've never actually seen you outside of trials. Of course I have seen you outside out of the main chamber, but I have never actually met you on terms." Renata laughed, starting to walk, I quickly followed. It was pretty funny I suppose, seeing us walk beside each other. She was shorter than some people here, and yet she was taller than me. Although, everyone was taller than me.

"To be honest Renata, you frustrate me." I said nonchalantly, she looked at me funny.

"How so?"

"It's your mind, I can't read it. Your mind is completely blocked because of your shield." She laughed when I said this.

"Oh, sorry I suppose. I can't control it, just like you can't control who's mind you read." Renata compared, studying. My expression soured at her statement.

"It's getting clearer." I grumbled, stopping only because we were near Aro's office, and he noticed. "Um, I'll talk to you later Renata," Renata nodded, and ghosted away. I stood outside the heavy ornate door, trying to be patient; long afterword along with a chuckle, the allowance was given. I walked into the room keeping my face as neutral as possible, which by the sound of Aro's thoughts I had failed miserably. He smiled at me kindly, waving me into the closest leather chair in front of his desk, I sighed falling into the chair, looking hopefully at Aro. He laughed.

"I see you are anxious to leave, that is the only thing I can tell from knowing you so well." Aro said, I pursed my lips.

"Of course I'm anxious, excited, whatever. It's really my very first missions, how can I not be?" I responded automatically. It was true though, ever since I had joined the Volturi I had never gone on a mission. For a three year term with basically a very, _very_ exclusive "membership", I hadn't gotten to do a heck of a lot. Aro's face darkened at my words, I looked questioningly at him. He sighed, leaning back in his large brown leather chair.

"Ray, you realize why you have not been completely submerged into the field quite yet, do you not?" he asked in a subdued tone, I cocked my head to the side perplexed, unsure of where this conservation was headed.

"Noooo… not really." I responded. Aro sighed, looking down he rubbed the side of his head. He looked tired, I mean, if vampires could get tired. Melancholy was the word for the expression on his face I suppose, it didn't look right there. "Are you alright Aro?" I asked, trying to be sensitive. His dark eyes flashed up to meet mine, an eerie cold feeling enveloped me as I look back at him, I felt as though I could not look away. Ever. He sighed again, looking away, putting up a mental "wall" in his mind, it wasn't so much as a wall, it was really only a warning to not look and just behave.

"It does not matter my dear one, I am simply put out is all, just lost something." He replied, looking out the window while I was wonder how the hell a vampire could lose something, apparently it could happen. Who knew? "The fact that it takes so little to… set you off, is why you have not experienced many field opportunities as the others. As well, your ability is too _precious _to have in danger." He said delicately. I huffed at his words.

"It's just Felix, plus the others are older than me…" I whined silently, but that was when it dawned on me. To Aro, I was like a volcano that could blow at any moment and get myself killed, ok, forget killed since I'm already dead. Or kill those around me… "So that's why you keep me around." I mumbled.

"There are worst reasons." He replied, his hands folded. I rolled my eyes in response.

"I certainly hope so." I replied looking away. As I said that, my mind flashed to a rainy day in May of 2010, during one of those times of bliss Aro let me visit my family. Daniel and I sat curled up on desk chairs, watching a deleted scene of the latest Doctor Who episode, I remembered promising him to come home to watch the return of so many friends and enemies with him. I had just quoted Amy Pond, and Aro knew it. Ungh, thanks Dad for the nerd gene! Aro smiled kindly.

"Think, you and Felix downstairs just now? Yes I do know about that," he chuckled midway, looking at my bulged eye expression. "Caius just came to see me, not very happy that, in his words I am quite sorry about this, the 'newborn has no control'. He does not see how I can trust you as much as I do." I stared at him straight in the eye.

"Yeah, but it's Caius!" I said, he laughed. Genuine curiosity came over his face as the wondered what happened down in the dungeon. I held out my hand, having it hover over the large desk. Aro took it enthusiastically, bowing his head as he watched everything. I think it was minutes we sat there, I didn't really pay attention, I just sat there, listened, and watched. Closing my eyes, I let memories flit through my head. My brain must have registered something, because Aro broke concentration as well as the grip on my hand, looking away. "They're back." I muttered, then shaking my head, realizing I stated the most obvious thing in the world. Standing up, I turned to Aro and bowed. "I should go get a few things before leaving. I will see you soon, master." He nodded, turning away. Figuring that meant I could leave, I made a dash for it to my room, thinking over what I could take.

Taking into consideration I didn't need the things a human needed for this type of journey, like food, change of clothes, or body products, I probably didn't need a backpack, or a hell of a lot. The others didn't really take anything when they left on missions, so I decided to follow suit. In my room, I ripped open the closet doors as carefully as I could, looking through all the jackets I had. Flipping through the 10 (yeah, 10) I had, I finally chose on a long black one that had brass buttons down the front all the way up to the chin, as well as the brass buttons on the cuffs for decoration. It was heavy, made for cold weather, and it certainly wasn't cold right now, but considering we would be god knows where in the mountains, it would be a good idea just in case. Plus it looked good on me.

Brushing my long hair into a ponytail, which I hardly ever do might I add, putting on sturdy boots, and putting the coat on, buttoning it up to my chin; I looked around the room one last time before exiting. Realizing I had no clue where to go, I stood outside my door with a blank expression on my face. Aro had never said anything to me before… oh, never mind. He had never said anything before until _now_; I was supposed to go to the old hidden church outside the city. I could swear that mindreading had its uses sometimes! I had only used this exit a few times, considering how little I've actually left the _city_ in the past few years, but had the route memorized after the first trip. So it didn't take me too long to reach the trapdoor that lead to the church.

The five in the room watched as I climbed out of the hole and closed the trap door behind me. Felix, Demetri, and Santiago stood in line before Aro and Caius; the trio were back from their hunt, their previously dark eyes now a rose red just like my own. Felix smirked slightly as I took my place next to him.

"You know since you're not human anymore, the coat is really unnecessary Ray."

Turning to him, I said "Hey! I thought it looked professional!" in defence. "It also looks good on me." I mumbled in addition, fiddling with the button below my chin. Our head snapped us when a loud hiss emitted from somewhere in the room; it was Caius, not happy that me and Felix were "arguing" over fashion. I quickly showed Aro, causing him to wave Caius off and calm him down. He still glared at me though, great, laser wish again I bet. Someone was missing; I didn't have to look around the room to know that Marcus was not here. Surprise surprise. He never seems to care about much of the business that goes on around this place anyway, so really I suppose it didn't matter.

"Yes yes. Focus!" Aro ushered, the four of us in line stood to attention, prepared for the task. "Demetri, can you locate the werewolf?" Aro asked, but he didn't have to. The gears had already been at work long before the question had been asked. Demetri held out his hand, Aro took it gladly. Both men looked towards me to see if I was paying attention, which I was, then Aro stepped away, pacing in front of us, his long black robes sweeping the ground in a whisper of a rhythm. "You must be quick, it will be on the move very soon, and carry out this justice in honour and pride, for the guard." We nodded simultaneously.

Aro stopped pacing in front of me, taking a gold chain out of his pocket. Hanging off the chain was a gold pendant in the shape of a V, with a shield in the middle, boasting what looked like a dead tree and raven twice in the shield. On top of the shield was a round ruby encrusted with a gold leaf design, and also along the bottom of the pendant, which also held a diamond shape ruby. Taking the chain in his hands, he started to put it over my head, explaining the symbolism mentally. _Rubies for blood, V for the Volturi guard, a raven for flight of the soul, and a tree for eternity. Overall, it is a symbol of power that deserves reverence and respect. _

I stared at it hanging low off my neck wide eyed in amazement, I didn't know these things existed, and only now I got one. Maybe they were something new? Felix and Demetri watched me out of the corner of their eyes, looking up at them, I smiled widely, Caius hissed. Losing the grin, I turned towards Caius confused. "This is not _Christmas_ Ray. We are strictly about business and law. If you cannot conform to what is expected, so help me…" he didn't finish, knowing in full awareness that he couldn't threaten me in front of Aro, all he finished with was a wide black eyed glare. "What is your real name _Ray_," Caius said mockingly, stressing my name. "It obviously is not your true name, what is it? Raven, Rayna?"

I glared back at him, trying to hold back a hiss, "I fail to see how my name is applicable to the situation at hand _Caius_." We just stood there, glaring at each other, our fists tight at our sides. Once the tension was thick enough, Aro coughed thus cutting the tension, slowly Caius and I left the others' stare to look at Aro, our rigid stances relaxing a fraction of an inch. Shaking my head trying to clear it, I sighed. "Ok, fine, sorry. We're losing time, sorry master." I mumbled, looking away from everyone to my right. After another excruciating moment of silence, Aro clapped his hands with a bright eyed smile on his pale face.

"Yes, Ray is right. You must go now if you are to catch the creature. My dear guard," he paused for a moment, admiring each one of us, his hands still clasped by his chest, "I bid you farewell and good luck." The four of us bowed deeply to our two masters before Aro uttered his last order.

"Now go."

And just like that, we were off like a bat out of hell.

* * *

_**Please comment to let me know whether it is worth while continuing writing this story and if it is good so far. **_

_**Thanks. **_


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